Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
Tivoli, Copenhagen - 2026
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
With nearly 40 years to their name, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy have been around the block a few times, and in that time, they’ve played at Tivoli in Copenhagen twice before, this being their third show in the magical garden.
We were there in 2016, we were there in 2022, and we were back again here in 2026.
“Good evening, Tivoli! It’s great to see that you show up in numbers for this old band!”
- Tim Christensen (vocals/guitar)
We can’t exactly claim to have been alone with them in the park however, as already long before the show started, the plain was full of people. When we showed up it was hard enough to get a spot, and somehow people kept showing up in droves - clearly the shine has not gone out of these Danish rock heroes!
When a booming guitar driven intro came on and the lights went up on stage, all eyes were waiting hungrily for the band members to show up, and when they did, they were properly saluted by the hordes of fans. Without further ado, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy kicked the set off hard with a hit and a live staple, Waterline, and the crowd was off to the races with singing along to Christensen’s vocals.
A very heavy version of Barbedwired Baby’s Dream followed suite, including an extended noodly solo part, something the band would return to in several of the night’s songs. The extended noodle solo, that is. A change of pace was still made however, as the band stepped away from the tried and true live staples for a while. The first indication of this was the presentation of a brand new song, Follow The Wheel, a song that was to the heavier, riffier side of Dizzy’s style, straight forward and less melodic and intricate. This is from a first listen, and in a live format, don’t forget that. Live recordings have of course snuck onto the internet already, and it seemed at least a portion of the crowd was familiar enough with it to shout along to the repeated title in the chorus. At the end of it, Christensen asked humbly if the crowd felt the song could be used for something, to which he of course got a resounding yes.
A little further down the line, Dizzy followed this up with a bit more from their bag of curiosities. As commented from the stage, the band’s sophomore album, Rotator, turned 30 this year, and so they wanted to dig up a few songs that usually didn’t get much air time. The choices fell on When The River Runs Dry and Run, both of them songs that worked exceptionally well in a live setting, so it’ll be interesting to see if they find themselves a more permanent position on the setlist from now on.
Rotator and 11:07 PM were the other picks from the album, and while the latter hasn’t had as much playtime as their fan favourites, it has seen an upswing in later years, and has thus been played a lot more than the two first mentioned.
Nobody’s in doubt that it is the debut album that is most visited in concert however, and tonight was no exception. This was also the album where we got full on live staple after live staple, and the sing along from the crowd reached its zenith in the finishing Silverflame and the earlier acoustic solo performance of Love Is A Loser’s Game by Christensen. Well, I say solo performance, but in actuality it was more of a duet between the vocalist on stage and the multitude of vocalists on the ground, who got to take large sections of the singing on their own.
“You are good at singing, thank you!”
- Christensen (vocals/guitar)
Dizzy Mizz Lizzy is a band that spends an inordinate amount of time on stage looking at their shoes, especially for a band not of the shoegaze genre, but even so, they managed to make the show look lively and enjoyed, as both Christensen and Martin Nielsen moved about a lot, and I have in previous reviews commented on the smiling nature of Søren Friis; this night was no different in that aspect. It was also nice to see Christensen sneak in an important issue without doing it too bluntly. Under his leather jacket, he wore what appeared at first glance to be a band shirt, but on closer inspection it was the new death metal shirt from Dansk Flygtingehjælp (Danish Refugee Aid) - look it up, it's pretty damned cool.
Visually, it was hard to follow along with everything they had going on, given the position I had, watching in from the side of the stage as I did (but I guess it was better than for the crowd that snaked around nearly behind the stage just to fit), but I have been informed that they had a large video screen instead of a backdrop, and that it provided the visual side to go with the music. Oh, and musically, Dizzy delivered hard! They had a crisp, heavy sound that sounded perfectly even out where I was, and I can only commend them for their unusual choices with the setlist. Even though they stepped out of the box in moments, their overall material is of such a high standard that it still felt like a hit setlist! Deep cuts and live staples were received with the same enthusiasm by the huge crowd, proving not only that the band shouldn’t be afraid of making a few unusual choices in their picks, but also that Tivoli shouldn’t be afraid of booking actual rock bands for their Friday Rock events. We’ve visited several concerts here during the summer, and this was without a doubt a high point!
Setlist:
Waterline
Barbedwired Baby’s Dream
Follow The Wheel
In The Blood
The Middle
When The River Runs Dry
Run
11:07 PM
Rotator
67 Seas In Your Eyes
Love Is A Loser’s Game
Glory
I Would If I Could But I Can’t
Silverflame
We were there in 2016, we were there in 2022, and we were back again here in 2026.
“Good evening, Tivoli! It’s great to see that you show up in numbers for this old band!”
- Tim Christensen (vocals/guitar)
We can’t exactly claim to have been alone with them in the park however, as already long before the show started, the plain was full of people. When we showed up it was hard enough to get a spot, and somehow people kept showing up in droves - clearly the shine has not gone out of these Danish rock heroes!
When a booming guitar driven intro came on and the lights went up on stage, all eyes were waiting hungrily for the band members to show up, and when they did, they were properly saluted by the hordes of fans. Without further ado, Dizzy Mizz Lizzy kicked the set off hard with a hit and a live staple, Waterline, and the crowd was off to the races with singing along to Christensen’s vocals.
A very heavy version of Barbedwired Baby’s Dream followed suite, including an extended noodly solo part, something the band would return to in several of the night’s songs. The extended noodle solo, that is. A change of pace was still made however, as the band stepped away from the tried and true live staples for a while. The first indication of this was the presentation of a brand new song, Follow The Wheel, a song that was to the heavier, riffier side of Dizzy’s style, straight forward and less melodic and intricate. This is from a first listen, and in a live format, don’t forget that. Live recordings have of course snuck onto the internet already, and it seemed at least a portion of the crowd was familiar enough with it to shout along to the repeated title in the chorus. At the end of it, Christensen asked humbly if the crowd felt the song could be used for something, to which he of course got a resounding yes.
A little further down the line, Dizzy followed this up with a bit more from their bag of curiosities. As commented from the stage, the band’s sophomore album, Rotator, turned 30 this year, and so they wanted to dig up a few songs that usually didn’t get much air time. The choices fell on When The River Runs Dry and Run, both of them songs that worked exceptionally well in a live setting, so it’ll be interesting to see if they find themselves a more permanent position on the setlist from now on.
Rotator and 11:07 PM were the other picks from the album, and while the latter hasn’t had as much playtime as their fan favourites, it has seen an upswing in later years, and has thus been played a lot more than the two first mentioned.
Nobody’s in doubt that it is the debut album that is most visited in concert however, and tonight was no exception. This was also the album where we got full on live staple after live staple, and the sing along from the crowd reached its zenith in the finishing Silverflame and the earlier acoustic solo performance of Love Is A Loser’s Game by Christensen. Well, I say solo performance, but in actuality it was more of a duet between the vocalist on stage and the multitude of vocalists on the ground, who got to take large sections of the singing on their own.
“You are good at singing, thank you!”
- Christensen (vocals/guitar)
Dizzy Mizz Lizzy is a band that spends an inordinate amount of time on stage looking at their shoes, especially for a band not of the shoegaze genre, but even so, they managed to make the show look lively and enjoyed, as both Christensen and Martin Nielsen moved about a lot, and I have in previous reviews commented on the smiling nature of Søren Friis; this night was no different in that aspect. It was also nice to see Christensen sneak in an important issue without doing it too bluntly. Under his leather jacket, he wore what appeared at first glance to be a band shirt, but on closer inspection it was the new death metal shirt from Dansk Flygtingehjælp (Danish Refugee Aid) - look it up, it's pretty damned cool.
Visually, it was hard to follow along with everything they had going on, given the position I had, watching in from the side of the stage as I did (but I guess it was better than for the crowd that snaked around nearly behind the stage just to fit), but I have been informed that they had a large video screen instead of a backdrop, and that it provided the visual side to go with the music. Oh, and musically, Dizzy delivered hard! They had a crisp, heavy sound that sounded perfectly even out where I was, and I can only commend them for their unusual choices with the setlist. Even though they stepped out of the box in moments, their overall material is of such a high standard that it still felt like a hit setlist! Deep cuts and live staples were received with the same enthusiasm by the huge crowd, proving not only that the band shouldn’t be afraid of making a few unusual choices in their picks, but also that Tivoli shouldn’t be afraid of booking actual rock bands for their Friday Rock events. We’ve visited several concerts here during the summer, and this was without a doubt a high point!
Setlist:
Waterline
Barbedwired Baby’s Dream
Follow The Wheel
In The Blood
The Middle
When The River Runs Dry
Run
11:07 PM
Rotator
67 Seas In Your Eyes
Love Is A Loser’s Game
Glory
I Would If I Could But I Can’t
Silverflame
Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
